Dublin has changed a lot since my youth. We are now home to peoples from all over the world – new Dubliners! The Daniel O’Connell monument, located at the bottom end of the street that bears his name, is iconic. It has been there all my life and hopefully will remain long after I’m gone.
There always seems to be some bird on the top of the statue shitting down on his head. O’Connell was an avowed abolitionist, perhaps the birds represent a certain intolerance – mirorred by the racist attitudes of those who don’t care for the lives of, for example, those seeking international protection in our country.
This edition of OV is dedicated to the memory of Yves Sakila – a man who came from Congo to Ireland to make a better life, never a crime. Yves lost his life in a tragic incident in Dublin city recently, not far from the statue of Ireland’s ‘Liberator’. May he rest in peace.